Posts by DT

10

Will The Watchtower Society Continue To Comply With The Working With Children Act?

by DT in

i'm hoping that this thread can address the current situation in australia without being derailed by debate about steven unthank and any errors of judgement that he may have committed.

i'm not saying that debate isn't needed or appropriate.

it's just that there are already enough other threads handling that subject.. the crown has implied that they are unwilling to enforce the working with children act.

Will The Watchtower Society Continue To Comply With The Working With Children Act?

by DT in

i'm hoping that this thread can address the current situation in australia without being derailed by debate about steven unthank and any errors of judgement that he may have committed.

i'm not saying that debate isn't needed or appropriate.

it's just that there are already enough other threads handling that subject.. the crown has implied that they are unwilling to enforce the working with children act.

There is also the question of whether individual elders could be prosecuted for failing to comply with the act, since they were left out of the cases that the crown dismissed. I'm sure it would be much easier to prosecute individuals than giant corporations. It would be helpful for there to be a public record that crimes were committed, especially if there are future lawsuits.

It's not the ideal way to handle this. I'm sympathetic towards at least some of the elders who are bying used and abused by the Watchtower Society, but I'm even more sympathic towards the innocent child victims.

10

Will The Watchtower Society Continue To Comply With The Working With Children Act?

by DT in

i'm hoping that this thread can address the current situation in australia without being derailed by debate about steven unthank and any errors of judgement that he may have committed.

i'm not saying that debate isn't needed or appropriate.

it's just that there are already enough other threads handling that subject.. the crown has implied that they are unwilling to enforce the working with children act.

DT

I'm hoping that this thread can address the current situation in Australia without being derailed by debate about Steven Unthank and any errors of judgement that he may have committed. I'm not saying that debate isn't needed or appropriate. It's just that there are already enough other threads handling that subject.

The Crown has implied that they are unwilling to enforce the Working With Children Act. What would prevent the Watchtower Society from refusing to comply again now that the cases have been dismissed? Why couldn't they just revert to their previous position that the act doesn't apply to them? There hasn't been a court decision that says otherwise.

I think it's likely that the Watchtower Society gave the Crown assurances that they would continue to comply. However, there doesn't appear to be any legally binding agreement to that effect. If I understand things correctly, any agreement between the Crown and the Watchtower Society would have had to either involve Steven Unthank or taken place after the Crown took the case. It doesn't appear that this has happened.

However, I think it is likely that the Watchtower Society will continue to comply with the act. I think they may have learned their lesson. It also might not too difficult to continue to comply now that they have taken the step of getting the background checks for their elders. It wouldn't be too difficult to just get new background checks for newly appointed elders.

Still, it doesn't pay to underestimate the arrogance of the Watchtower Society. It's certainly possible that they could refuse to fully comply in the future or handle the background checks that suggest possible problems in an inappropriate manner.

We should also consider the possibility of future lawsuits that are at least partly based on the fact that the Watchtower Society has failed to comply with that act for several years. If people start suing the Watchtower Society for their criminal negligence, then this story could be far from over.

I understand that the Crown probably just wanted current compliance and was unwilling to engage in a lengthy legal battle to inflict penalties on past transgressions. Still, it's a shame that they didn't at least try for some kind of plea bargain that would ensure future compliance and acknowledge past crimes with at least a token fine.

They also seemed to ignore the fact that children have been greatly harmed by the Watchtower Society's criminal actions. The Crown failed to even make it look like they were trying to protect them.

The Crown may have failed, but there is still the court of public opinion and the possibility of costly litigation.

I welcome your comments.

503

Steven Unthank: What do we really know?

by SweetBabyCheezits in

i'm gonna play the skeptic today on a topic that is painful for a lot of people on this forum.

my intent is not to stir anything up but to make sure facts are confirmed.

bear in mind, i'm sickened by the wt's role (and the heirarchy down to elders) in child molestation cover-ups.

DT

When I first saw the picture of that girl, I didn't think it was the actual girl who had been abused. However, I can see how others came to that conclusion and I also began to wonder if that was the case after I thought about it some more. He made a mistake in how he described the picture. I think he realises that. I can see how a mistake like that would be possible, given all he has been through recently. It's a good reminder of why we have to be especially careful of how we present information when battling the Watchtower Society, but I don't think it's evidence of lack of sincerity on the part of Steven Unthank.

73

WE NEED TO E-MAIL THE PROSECUTOR RIGHT NOW !!!!

by Phizzy in

we need to e-mail the state prosecutor in steven unthanks case right now , please see 3mozzies thread "the governing body to escape ..........".

stevens letter and the e-mail addy are on there.. .

please do it folks, let the guy know the world is watching.

DT

Oppostate,

I like your letters. It would be good for there to be an investigation into why the Crown has allowed the Watchtower Society to get away with serious crimes against children.

5

Protecting Children Is In The Public Interest

by DT in

if you haven't heard the latest about the prosecution of the watchtower society in australia, please check out these threads.. http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/scandals/222044/2/governing-body-of-jehovahe28099s-witnesses-to-escape-judgment-for-crimes-against-the-children.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/scandals/222048/1/we-need-to-e-mail-the-prosecutor-right-now.

i resent the suggestion that enforcing a law that is designed to protect children is "not in the public interest".

DT

I have to give Mr. Unthank credit for everything that he accomplished. It's just too bad that the Crown wasn't willing to hold the Watchtower Society accountable for their crimes.

5

Protecting Children Is In The Public Interest

by DT in

if you haven't heard the latest about the prosecution of the watchtower society in australia, please check out these threads.. http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/scandals/222044/2/governing-body-of-jehovahe28099s-witnesses-to-escape-judgment-for-crimes-against-the-children.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/scandals/222048/1/we-need-to-e-mail-the-prosecutor-right-now.

i resent the suggestion that enforcing a law that is designed to protect children is "not in the public interest".

DT

I sent another email polointing out the discussion of the case on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%23protectingchildrenisinthepublicinterest

I'm hoping that public discussion and awareness of the case will help to convince them to continue with the case.

5

Protecting Children Is In The Public Interest

by DT in

if you haven't heard the latest about the prosecution of the watchtower society in australia, please check out these threads.. http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/scandals/222044/2/governing-body-of-jehovahe28099s-witnesses-to-escape-judgment-for-crimes-against-the-children.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/scandals/222048/1/we-need-to-e-mail-the-prosecutor-right-now.

i resent the suggestion that enforcing a law that is designed to protect children is "not in the public interest".

DT

Here are a few blog posts. I haven't seen any news coverage yet.

http://junkdrawerofthought.blogspot.com/2012/02/david-and-goliath-story-in-australia.html

http://apostatewitness.blogspot.com/2012/02/protecting-children-is-in-public.html

117

Exclusive interview with a prosecutor, Steven Unthank, February 21, 2012

by AndersonsInfo in

interview with a prosecutor .

background: on july 26, 2011, the entire worldwide religious and corporate hierarchy of jehovahs witnesses was charged in the magistrates court of victoria, australia, with 35 serious criminal breaches of the states mandatory child protection laws (working with children act 2005).

among the legal entities charged were the watch tower bible and tract society of pennsylvania and the governing body of jehovahs witnesses.

DT

I just wanted to point to some other threads that have some recent developments on this case.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/scandals/222044/2/Governing-Body-of-Jehovahe28099s-Witnesses-to-Escape-Judgment-for-Crimes-Against-the-Children

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/scandals/222048/1/WE-NEED-TO-E-MAIL-THE-PROSECUTOR-RIGHT-NOW

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/child-abuse/222064/1/Protecting-Children-Is-In-The-Public-Interest

5

Protecting Children Is In The Public Interest

by DT in

if you haven't heard the latest about the prosecution of the watchtower society in australia, please check out these threads.. http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/scandals/222044/2/governing-body-of-jehovahe28099s-witnesses-to-escape-judgment-for-crimes-against-the-children.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/scandals/222048/1/we-need-to-e-mail-the-prosecutor-right-now.

i resent the suggestion that enforcing a law that is designed to protect children is "not in the public interest".

DT

If you haven't heard the latest about the prosecution of the Watchtower Society in Australia, please check out these threads.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/scandals/222044/2/Governing-Body-of-Jehovahe28099s-Witnesses-to-Escape-Judgment-for-Crimes-Against-the-Children

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/scandals/222048/1/WE-NEED-TO-E-MAIL-THE-PROSECUTOR-RIGHT-NOW

I resent the suggestion that enforcing a law that is designed to protect children is "not in the public interest". I think the Director of Public Prosecutions could come under a lot of public pressure if it became widely known that he is taking that stand.

I'm glad that many of us are emailing the Director of Public Prosecutions in the few hours that remain before the next hearing. I think that there may be other things that can be done as well. I started a trending topic on Twitter #protectingchildrenisinthepublicinterest It's already getting some tweets. If you use that hashtag, you can join in the public discussion. I thought that Twitter might be one of the best places to spread this message in a limited amount of time.

It might be a good idea to also contact some news agencies. I think that if we can show that there is already a lively discussion on the subject, they might be more willing to pick up the story.

I also discovered that the phrase "protecting children is in the public interest" is a phrase that has almost never been used on the Internet until today. I'm sure we can dominate that slogan with our blog posts, discussions, tweets etc.

I look forward to your comments and ideas.